- Saving Water
- Holy Acre-Feet, Batman!
- Fast Fat
- Vineyard As Guinea Pig
- County Response Non-Responsive
- The Mendo Boys At Q
SAVING WATER
Editor,
As California's epic drought plunges into it's fourth year, Californians are desperately seeking ways to use less water in their daily lives with such measures as taking fewer and shorter showers, flushing less often, turning off the tap while brushing, washing the car less often and replacing lawns with drought tolerant plants being heavily promoted by State water agencies. And according to the State Water Resources Control Board, Californians have heeded this call as household water use was down 28.9% from May 2014 to May 2015.
While all these efforts by Californians to conserve water are laudable, household water use accounts for only a small fraction of the water Californians use every day; it is putting food on the table that accounts for most of the water we use. Eighty percent of California's developed water supply is used for agriculture.
University of California professor of Agricultural Engineering, Blaine Hanson, published a paper in 2009 in which he quantified how much water was being used to grow California's major crops. According to Dr. Hanson's figures, alfalfa was by far the #1 water intensive crop in California using 5.2 million acre feet/year (1 acre foot = 325,851 US gallons). #2 was pasture at3.3 million acre feet/year (af/y). Here is the millions of af/y for other major California crops: rice — 2.7, cotton — 2.3, almond/pistachio — 2.1, fruit trees — 2.1, corn — 1.7, grapes — 1.6, subtropical fruit trees — 1.4, grains — 1.0, tomatoes — 0.8, squash — 0.3, dried beans — 0.3.
From Dr. Hanson's agricultural water use figures, it is clear that alfalfa and pasture account for a disproportionately large share of California's water use making animal feed by far the largest water user in the State. Seventy percent of California's alfalfa crop is fed to California dairy cows with some exported to China to feed their fledgling dairy industry. Most of the irrigated pasture is forage for dairy and beef cattle.
In a 2008 paper entitled, “The water footprint of food,” Arjen Hoekstra, Professor in Water Management at the University of Twente, the Netherlands, estimated on average around the world how many gallons of water it takes to grow one kilogram (2.2 lbs) of various foods. On the low end were lettuce at 15 gallons/kilogram, tomatoes 22 and cabbage 24. In the middle were corn at 107 gallons/kilogram, peaches 142 and avocados 220. At the high end were rice at 403 gallons/kilogram, eggs 573, chicken 815, cheese 896, pork 1,630, butter 2,044 and beef 2,500 to 5,000 gallons. The reason animal foods take so much more water to produce than plant foods is all the water it takes to grow their feed.
While the number of gallons of water it takes to produce specific foods varies somewhat from place to place and year to year, it always takes much more water to produce animal foods than plant foods because converting feed crops into meat, dairy and eggs is an inherently inefficient biological process and most of the biomass of the plants is not retained in the animals that eat them. Due to this irreducible biological function, as far as water is concerned, it doesn't matter whether animal foods are produced at a local family farm or at a factory farm far away, they take magnitudes more water to produce than plant foods.
Obviously, what this all means is that it takes a lot more water to put animal foods on the table than plant foods. By one estimate a single quarter pound beef patty takes 450 gallons of water to produce in California, the same amount as 45 (or a month and a half's worth of) daily ten gallon showers. While beef is the worst offender, as you can see from the numbers above, all animal foods are high water consumers. A much more effective strategy for cutting down on one's domestic water use than skipping showers is to cut down on the animal foods on one's plate.
Even today, some people still believe that they need to eat animal foods to get enough protein, but this fallacy was conclusively debunked long ago by nutritional science. And nutritional science has also proven unequivocally that a whole-foods, plant-based diet consisting of fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts and seeds is the only diet to effectively treat and prevent America's most common diseases of diabetes, atherosclerosis and many types of cancer.
So not only is eating less animal food and more whole plant food the near-term solution to California's current water shortage, it doubles as the long term solution to ending the scourge of chronic degenerative diseases that plague our country.
Jon Spitz
Laytonville
HOLY ACRE-FEET, BATMAN!
Editor,
A Victory for Mendocino County in the Masonite Water Right Litigation
About a year ago you wrote about the efforts of my client Millview Water District [Ukiah Valley] to preserve the 4274 acre foot water right originally obtained by Masonite back in the 1940s and mentioned that the effort was being resisted by the Sonoma County Water Agency. Today, the decision that was announced last month was formally entered as a judgment by the judge. It is interesting that the Sonoma County Water Agency, "Big Water," has been so active in this proceeding attempting to have the Masonite Water Right forfeited so that it would have additional water flow in the Russian River which it "manages." The Sonoma County Water Agency renewed its agreement with Marin Municipal Water Agency in 2015 where SCWA renewed sales of its surplus water, 4300 acre feet. Also attached is a response to a public records request showing how much SCWA makes in sales of "surplus" water to Marin County. It is no wonder that the SCWA has been so active in attempting to suppress water rights in Mendocino County, including its now unsuccessful effort to have the State declare the Masonite 4274 acre ft per year License forfeited. I suggest that the 4300 ac/ft/annually of "surplus water" sold by the SCWA to Marin Municipal is the 4275 acre feet annually (ac/ft/annually) that Millview as the owner of the Masonite right purchased in 2006 could not use due to the court proceedings in the Masonite case which started in 2008. SCWA also attempted to suppress another Russian River right, "the Waldteufel Right," that Millview had purchased. The published court decision regarding that case announced last September (a completely different case than the Masonite Right case) is also attached. The discussion as to the peculiar role of the SCWA is set forth at p. 10 of that case document. In Court proceedings in July SCWA vowed to keep fighting and it is therefore likely that it will attempt to appeal this decision.
Kind regards,
C. J. Neary
Attorney at Law
110 South Main Street, Suite C
Willits, CA 95490
Attached: From: Michael Gossman
Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2015 2:51 PM
Subject: Response to Public Records Act Request
Good Afternoon Mr. Neary:
I am writing you in response to your Public Records Act Request dated February 20, 2015. In your letter you requested:
1. Total receipts from Water Sales by Sonoma County Water Agency to North Marin Water District for each of
the calendar years 2012-2014.
2. Total receipts from Water Sales by Sonoma County Water Agency to Marin Municipal Water District for
each of the calendar years 2012-2014.
Below is a table indicating the amount invoiced to each of those entities for the calendar years requested. I
believe this satisfies your request, but if you have questions or need other documentation, please let me know.
Water Invoices by Customer
For the period January 1, 2012 - December 31, 2014
Customer: North Marin Water District
2012: $ 5,530,515.69
2013: $ 5,325,817.24
2014: $ 5,583,798.95
Customer: Marin Municipal Water District
2012: $ 5,512,651.65
2013: $ 6,307,733.24
2014: $ 7,531,960.14
Thank you,
Michael Gossman, MBA
Division Manager — Administration & Finance
Sonoma County Water Agency
Phone: 707-521-6207
FAST FAT
Dear Editor:
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released a new report that shows over one third of US children and teens eat fast food daily. Further, of that group 10.7 % obtained 25-40 percent of their daily calories from fast food and 12.1 percent more than 40 percent of their daily calories from fast food. Also, the report found there was little difference in gender or income levels. About 11.5 percent were close to poverty and 13 percent from the higher end end of the economic spectrum.
The CDC stated childhood obesity has "more than doubled in children and quadrupted in adolescents in the past 30 years."Plus consumption of fast food has been linked to weight gain in adults. Fast food has been associated with high caloric intake but poorer diet quality.In a previous report CDC 9% of Californians say they have been has been diagnosed with diabetes. Clearly many of these children and teens are obese and may will develop diabetes with all its long term health implications.
As a sidebar, my thoughts are that a good part of the problem are children and teens do not exercise as much as they should and spent far too much of their time on computers and their smart phones. I would note that I went to a k - 12 grade school and graduated in January of 1944. I have a picture of the graduating class.There were 46 students and no obese or over weight persons in the class. Plenty of P. E. classes and after school activities. Plus we walked to school - no mommy driving us to and from school Also, no parents supervising our after school activities.
In peace and love,
Jim Updegraff
Sacramento
VINEYARD AS GUINEA PIG
Editor,
Pesticide regulation is extremely complex in California. Even with a lifetime of experience in the agricultural industry, I have experienced a firsthand example of misuse of pesticides.
Researchers who want to test a product to revise a label are allowed to file an application for applying that product. The researcher files form 027a with the Department of Pesticide Regulation. Once approved by a senior environmental scientist, a licensed pest control operator files a 24 hour Notice of Intent with the County Agricultural Commissioner. At present, no further action at the county level occurrs. I am asking that production growers adjacent to the test property be notified 24 hours before application.
Unfortunately, in March of 2015 an application of herbicides was applied containing three labeled herbicides and one additional herbicide that was applied on an approved DPR pesticide research authorization. This mixture of four herbicides was applied on railroad property directly adjacent to my Healdsburg Pinot Noir vineyard on March 24, 2015.
On June 11, 2015, while working in my vineyard, I observed herbicide damage on the grapevines closest to the railroad. The damage was lessened going away from the railroad.
Many months of meetings and inspections have followed along with extensive laboratory tests to identify the herbicide. The Sonoma County Agricultural Commissioner's office additional testing prior to harvest of the fruit to determine that none of the herbicide was detectable in the fruit. All of the costs for the laboratory analysis have been paid by me. These costs as of today exceed $4000.
I am asking that an amendment be made in the regulations governing notices of intent to apply pesticides. This amendment would require the County Agricultural Commissioner to notify any adjacent production grower within 24 hours of the proposed pesticide application. This would allow time for the adjacent owner to gather information on the chemicals and act accordingly.
Bob Dempel
Hopland
COUNTY RESPONSE NON-RESPONSIVE
Dear Members of the Board of Supervisors:
I am writing to you regarding the May 19, 2015, Grand Jury report concerning Family and Children Services (FCS), “Family and Children's Services: Children at Risk,”, and the subsequent responses to this report by Stacey Cryer of Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) and Carmel Angelo, County CEO. I write because these issues matter to me as a concerned citizen, and as a former Mendocino County FCS employee. I served for over 18 years in the FCS Fort Bragg office, until I retired in January 2014. For 15 of those years I was the supervisor (master's degree level) in this unit.
I was one of a number of present and former FCS staff members who testified before the Grand Jury during its investigation of FCS problems in 2014-2015. This investigation was triggered by citizens' complaints about FCS practices and function. I testified in the hope that Grand Jury feedback to HHSA and the community might bring positive changes and needed reform to FCS. I found the Grand Jury report to be a credible and accurate document. The report underscored the fundamental problems in FCS that many FCS staff have been concerned about for the past several years. The problems identified by the Grand Jury had all been openly and repeatedly discussed among FCS staff for a long time. It was all common knowledge for those who worked on the FCS front lines.
The County's responses to the Grand Jury report are generally non-responsive, cursory and lacking in substance. Many responses are mere assertions, some of them very brief. The County mostly provided no evidence for their assertions, and provided no information of further investigation of disputed facts by either HHSA or the CEO. Serious findings by the Grand Jury are at times just denied in the County responses, with little or no discussion. The County's responses stand in stark contrast to the lengthy Grand Jury report, which was the result of a months'-long, serious, and substantive investigation of FCS problems. Though FCS administrators asked FCS staff for their feedback regarding the Grand Jury report, there is no mention of such feedback in the HHSA or CEO report responses. The two responses are actually quite similar in their rhetoric; no independent, critical thinking appears to have been engaged in. The County's responses seem to imply that the Grand Jury's investigation was of little worth and required no real thought or attention—and no real changes--by the County.
The Grand Jury report highlights the lack of sufficient FCS staffing. Apparently no one disagrees with this central report finding; the County's responses have admitted this is a problem. In fact, this reality is not arguable; it was an easy call for the County to agree. However, several related issues that the County's responses disputed are also highlighted in the Grand Jury report. These issues concern the ongoing poor treatment of FCS staff, and the command and control style of FCS leadership, as well as the consequent problem of poor morale and the exodus of key FCS staff over the last several years. These problems are closely related to the openly acknowledged problem of insufficient social worker staff. These important issues are largely ignored and/or denied in both the HHSA and the CEO responses.
But, I am certain, many FCS staff would assert this belief: If FCS administration does not address and remediate these problems, staff hiring/retention issues will never be resolved. If social workers and other staff are not treated with respect, honesty and some degree of kindness by management, and if they are not allowed to participate in decisions that affect their work, FCS will never be able to retain sufficient staff. It won't matter how many new social workers and support staff are hired. If they are not treated well, if the agency is not a decent place to work, many will leave. It's just that simple. Social workers generally have an aversion to a command and control form of leadership. It's a leadership style ill-suited to a social service agency, and more suited to the military services, or perhaps law enforcement agencies. (I invite Supervisors to re-read the pertinent parts of pages 8-12 of the Grand Jury report. Though the report is an investigative summary --the confidential interviews in full would detail many more facts about these issues--these portions speak clearly to an FCS leadership often marked by a quality of mean-spiritedness.)
Here is one specific example of the FCS problems noted by the Grand Jury--the recent exodus of experienced staff-- that the County's responses tersely deny. By contrast, here is factual information about this issue:
Following is a list of staff members who left FCS service over the last several years (from fall 2013). It is a partial list, as other staff members, including some with master's degrees, also left FCS service during this time. However, this list includes a number of key FCS personnel, most of whom had master's level degrees (several with licensed clinical status—MFT/LCSW) and substantial child welfare experience. Most of these staff members had served in FCS positions for a number of years; it is not overstating the matter to say that as a group they formed a core part of the agency. Five of these staff members were FCS unit supervisors, a central and critical position in the agency.... One... was a program specialist, the acknowledged FCS expert in an important agency function, Family Strengths services. All were committed, dedicated staff who had earned the respect and admiration of FCS front-line staff.
(Names of staff redacted from this section of letter.)
While individual staff left FCS for various reasons, I have personal knowledge (with one exception... who I did not work with) that all of these staff were frustrated and troubled by the FCS leadership failings made clear in the Grand Jury report. For most of them, I know that a primary reason for leaving FCS had to do with agency leadership. The combined loss of these staff members, and of others not named here, was a serious blow to FCS continuity of services. and the agency's depth of child welfare expertise, as the Grand Jury report details.
Here is another very specific example of the past and current exodus of FCS staff and of the consequences of these losses. This example is of special interest and worry to me, as it concerns the unit I worked in and cared about for many years: The Fort Bragg FCS unit, a small satellite office, currently operates in a crippled status. Since the fall of 2013, this unit has lost 5 social worker and supervisory staff. Most of these employees were master's level staff; two had licensed clinical status also. Their combined experience in child protection work was more than 85 years. This unit currently has no permanent, coast-based supervisor. Two more social workers (one a master's level social worker) are currently in the process of leaving the unit. With that staff loss, the unit will be able to offer only limited services to coast families and children. I know and respect all of these staff, as I had worked closely with all of them before I retired. I also know that, while their individual reasons for leaving FCS work varied, there was a common and important thread, expressed often by all of them. This thread involved the lack of support by management, the lack of open communication and joint problem-solving by management, and the over-riding command and control leadership style.
It saddens me to write about these issues and to know they have not yet been acknowledged and effectively dealt with. The real cost to FCS of these continuing problems is great. If they were effectively addressed, FCS would be a better place to work. Social workers and support staff would be much more likely to commit to years of service with Mendocino County FCS. The upside of this problem is that its solution is not related to funding. It just takes management staff willing to treat staff decently and with kindness. It would be a wonderful thing if FCS became a great agency to work for, with staff being treated with respect, and kindness, and clear and honest communication.
The Grand Jury report was an important public service, exposing serious problems in FCS to the light of day. The report offered County administrators a chance to correct the problems and re-make FCS into a higher functioning agency. I still have some hope that might occur, so I offer these thoughts to you. I hope the Board of Supervisors will take action and motivate FCS to effectively address its problems. Thank you for considering my feedback.
Respectfully,
Chuck Dunbar, M.A.
Fort Bragg
THE MENDO BOYS AT Q
Dear Editor,
I am writing to you in regards to your newspaper -- great newspaper!
Good stuff and myself along with seven more from Mendo really enjoy and look forward to reading your paper. It keeps us all a little bit in touch with our home base.
I've lived in Covelo my whole life along with a few others here plus a couple from Willits and Ukiah and one from good old Fort Bragg.
We all here at San Quentin were hoping you could send the paper directly to us so that we could pass it around between us. It would be awesome.
I enclose a few stamps; it's not much but most of us are just barely make it here.
Thanks for your time and help.
Respectfully yours,
Reginald Azbill and all the Mendo boys
San Quentin
Be First to Comment